Yard Renovation: Day 12

The last day of our project!

Friday morning looked like this: all prepped for sod

We took a break from the dirt to go to the pool with our friends! It was a welcome break from the construction.

Then we came home around 1:00 pm to this!

Yeay hurray!!! The sprinkler guys had to come back one more time this morning to fix the last broken pipe, but otherwise they were done by about 4:00 on Friday.

I still have all these plants to put in the backyard, so I'm heading outside to get going!!

Yard Renovation: Day 11

Thursday was plant day! They finished putting in bed borders, finished grading the lawn area, and continued to adjust sprinklers and drains.

About 11:00 am the truck arrived with our plant delivery. We laid them out about where we wanted them and the guys got to work planting them. We went back and tweaked some of the things we just didn't quite like. It's a lot easier to move things yourself than try to explain to someone who doesn't speak good English exactly where you want it. I kept saying a little more this way, now a little more that way. I'm sure the guys thought I was very particular...

Front yard bed with some of the lawn grading done, and part of the bed border in.

Plants arrived! And a nice big pile of smelly compost.

Ben loved the plants, and helping with the planting. Hopefully the workers didn't think he was too underfoot...

Here most of the plants are in. They ran into a sprinkler pipe where the date palm was supposed to go, so they had to finish that one in the morning after the sprinkler guy could move the pipe.

Yard Renovation: Day 10

Today the guys finished up the sprinklers and beds, moved the fireplace (though it still needs a little work), and added compost to the yard. It's really starting to take shape now! We'll probably have the sod installed either tomorrow or Friday!

Ben the foreman explaining in fluent Spanish where to put the fireplace: ;) Actually, I kept trying to get him to say little Spanish phrases (hola, buen dia, etc) but he wouldn't. He wouldn't say anything in English either. A little shy of strangers.

It was fun to watch them disassemble the fireplace and move it in pieces over to its new home.

This arrived today. It's making our house and yard smell like poo, but that's a good thing ;).

In the hour or so I was cleaning the kitchen, it went from this:

to this. I was amazed how fast the ground changed. They did some more raking and leveling and I think it's all ready for sod!

There are still some sprinkler issues in the front. I felt bad for the guy up to his elbows in mud trying to repair a bunch of pipe breaks from removing the tree...

Yard Renovation: Day 9

After the cement was poured Monday morning, they spent Monday afternoon and all day Tuesday working on sprinkler lines. They also used a special saw to cut nice lines in the patio for a fancier finish.

Ben and the Cement Truck

Yes, today was a very exciting day for Ben. He was so excited to watch the truck. Luckily the baby was down for a nap, so I could just hang outside with Ben and watch the work.

The very nice cement truck driver told Ben he could get up in the cab of the truck. At first Ben was a little nervous - it's very high!

But once he was in there, he didn't want to leave! He was moving the steering wheel, beeping the horn and wearing the seat belt. I have a cute video that I'm going to try to add, but blogger seems to be having trouble with it right now.

He looked so tiny in that big truck! It made me a little nervous to have him up there, but he was happy as can be!

See his little face poking out the window?

One of the funniest parts of the truck adventure was Ben kept calling it a pineapple. He'd say, pointing to the truck, "a pineapple!" He thought the cement mixer looked like a pineapple. It does, doesn't it!

It was a bummer when the truck had to leave, but we waved good-bye and the driver tooted his horn for us :).

Yard Renovation: Day 8

Day 7 ended quickly and quietly with the final prep on the concrete forms. Today, however, started bright and early! Guys were here at 10 to 7:00 am to set up and prep everything for the cement truck.

Then, around 7:45 this truck pulled up in front of the house. We knew it was coming and I tried to have Ben dressed and ready, but he was still in his pj's and left a half eaten bowl of cereal on the table. Oh well. He was so excited! I'm going to do a separate post on Ben and the truck.

The cement dumped from the truck through this filter and out the hose.

It snaked through to the back yard and squirted out into the forms.

It went really fast!

The truck pulled out less than an hour later. We were a little sad to see it go because it was so much fun to watch!

The guys spent the next hour or two smoothing and scraping. It looks really good now!

One thing I found especially interesting--they had a little extra cement they kept for filling in where they needed it. They dug a hole in the dirt and filled it up with cement. A couple hours later when the patios were pretty much hard, they could still go back to this hole, shovel some out, add a little water and use it! Clever way to save it.